It’s only fitting that one of the favorite characters in my Sentinels of New Orleans series is the undead pirate Jean Lafitte, a blend of French charm, early 19th-century sensibilities, and a moral ambiguity that makes him irresistible. Between my French pirate, the Acadian-descended mermen that populate the second book in the series (River Road, coming November 13), and the city of New Orleans itself, the French language and culture plays an important role in my series.

Most early American cities were founded by either English settlers, Scots-Irish immigrants, or the Spanish. But not New Orleans.

In the early 1700s, a couple of explorers who’d been born in Rouen traveled under French orders to establish a colony along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville and his younger brother, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, set off on their adventures. Iberville founded a coastal settlement near the site of present-day Ocean Springs, Mississippi, before returning to France.

But when Bienville encountered some pesky Englishmen on a trip up the Mississippi River, his brother told him to find the first solid land near the river’s mouth and create a town. He found a spot of high ground among the swamps about forty miles up the mouth of the river and called it Nouvelle-Orléans.

Nouvelle-Orléans was filled with snakes and alligators, but its spot near the mouth of the great river soon made it a growing center of French trade. It belonged to France for the next half-century, until it was ceded to Spain. The French citizens of Nouvelle-Orléans chafed under Spanish rule, however, and thirty or so years later, Louisiana was returned to France. In 1803, Napoleon sold the area to the United States. (The French citizens didn’t much like that, either.)

During this same period in the mid-1700s came the Great Expulsion, or Le Grand Dérangement. During the French and Indian War, the British deported all the French-speaking Acadians from what later became the Canadian Maritime Provinces, and a great many ended up in Louisiana. These Acadiens, now Americanized as “Cajuns,” heavily shaped the culture of South Louisiana.

Fast-forward more than 250 years, and you have modern New Orleans and its surrounding parishes, by far the most French of American cities, from the street names to the native culture to the language to the music.

A few examples:

–The city’s oldest area is the Vieux Carre, or the “French Quarter.” This was the area originally laid out and built by Sieur de Bienville, with many of the 18th-century buildings and all of the old street names remaining.

–There are literally thousands of French street and place names, including Iberville, Bienville, Burgundy, Chartres…and, of course, Rue Royale, after which the first book in my series, Royal Street, was named.

–Neighborhoods are called faubourgs. So the Marigny neighborhood, for example, is called Faubourg Marigny.

–Both the Creole and Cajun cultures have heavily shaped South Louisiana. The Creoles were the French-African people who lived mostly in the cities, and the Cajuns are the descendants of the original Acadians who heavily populate the rural southern half of the state. The Cajun culture has particularly influenced Louisiana music, with traditional Cajun music and Zydeco still sung primarily in French. In Acadian Louisiana, French is still taught in schools although it is no longer the primary language except among some of the older generation in the smaller communities. A number of Cajun musical artists have actively worked to keep the French-Acadian culture alive, including Zachary Richard and the band BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet.

–Food. The best-known Louisiana foods have their roots in Creole and Cajun culture: Andouille, étouffée, boudin (or boudain), jambalaya, cochon de lait ecrevisse, and maque choux came from the Cajuns, while the much-loved variations on Louisiana gumbo come from the Creole culture.

–Festivals. The big one is, of course, Mardi Gras, a two-week citywide party that culminates in Fat Tuesday, the day before Lent. Living in New Orleans, this was a favorite time of year for me. Most businesses close for both Lundi Gras and Mardi Gras, so we were able to spend time with friends awaiting parades and having fun. There’s also the Cochon de Lait festival in Mansura, Festival Acadiens in Lafayette, Courir de Mardi Gras in Acadiana, Festival International de Louisiane in Lafayette, and La Grande Boucherie des Cajuns in St. Martinville. Um….Louisianans like festivals!

–Religion. Did you know that the Southern U.S. is overwhelmingly protestant…except for New Orleans and South Louisiana? They are predominantly Catholic—a remnant of their French origins.

There are many more examples of how the French influence has remained alive in New Orleans and South Louisiana…but you’ll have to visit and see for yourself! As our signs leading into the state say, Welcome to Louisiana: Bienvenue.

Biography:

On Aug. 28, 2005, Suzanne Johnson loaded her family and pets into a car and fled New Orleans in the hours before Hurricane Katrina. Three years later, she began weaving her experiences and love for her city into a new Sentinels of New Orleans urban fantasy series that began with the release of Royal Streetin April and continues in November with the release of River Road. She is a longtime resident of New Orleans who currently lives in Auburn, Alabama.

Synopsis: As the junior wizard sentinel for New Orleans, Drusilla Jaco’s job involves a lot more potion-mixing and pixie-retrieval than sniffing out supernatural bad guys like rogue vampires and lethal were-creatures. Her boss and mentor, Gerald St. Simon, is the wizard tasked with protecting the city from anyone or anything that might slip over from the preternatural beyond. Then Hurricane Katrina hammers New Orleans’ fragile levees, unleashing more than just dangerous flood waters. While winds howled and Lake Pontchartrain surged, the borders between the modern city and the other world crumbled. Now, the Undead and the Restless are roaming the Big Easy, and a serial killer with ties to voodoo is murdering soldiers sent to help the city recover. Gerald St. Simon has gone missing, the wizards’ Elders have assigned a grenade-toting assassin as DJ’s new partner, and an undead pirate Jean Lafitte wants to make her walk his plank. The search for Gerry and the killer turns personal when DJ learns the hard way that loyalty requires sacrifice, allies come from the unlikeliest places, and duty mixed with love serves up one bitter gumbo.

Thanks to Suzanne Johnson for this wonderful post. You can win a signed paperback copy of Royal Street (Sentinels of New Orleans, 1) + a magnet of River Road (Sentinels of New Orleans, 2). International giveaway. It ends on October 1st.

I have to admit that traveling through Louisiana was a bit daunting, but I did stop in NOLA for a bit and enjoyed what I did see. Much different feel to it than the rest of the state. I’d love to really visit one day and so glad you had this post. I love learning more about an area.

How I would love visiting New Orleans!!!!! I always was really intrigued by this part of the USA. I hope I’ll manage to go there one day.Anyway, I have to confess I already own Royal Street BUT…it is a signed copy! A signed one!!! I had to get it so I keep my fingers crossed! 😉